Tissue engineers grow penis

Posted
April 30, 2003 20:00:00

Doctors who have grown penile tissue in animals to demonstrate the possibility of organ replacement have now gone one better: they have added nerve cells.

The British magazine New Scientist reports on its website the team, led by Anthony Atala at Boston Children's Hospital, made the breakthrough achievement in September last year, when they replaced missing chunks of penis in live rabbits with tissues grown in the lab.

The replacement tissue comprised only muscle cells and endothelial cells, cells which make up the inside of blood vessels.

This time, they have regrown penile nerve cells, using millimetre-wide channels of collagen as a supporting structure, rather like insulation around electrical wires.

The experiment, conducted on live rats, showed that collagen-supported nerve cells grew just as well as nerves that were grafted onto the severed penile stumps of the luckless rodents.

"The nerve cells are very important ... they are responsible for all the sensory function," Dr Atala was quoted as saying.

"In order to do complete (penile) replacements we need to make sure all of the parts are there, including the nerves."

The work has a long way to go before there is a human benefit.

Eventually, though, it may help create replacement tissue for men who have lost parts of the penis following prostate cancer surgery or an accident, or to enhance the genitals of children born with abnormalities.